Lucy was standing at the door staring at them with half-dead eyes. Her gaze was unwavering. Her clothes were all dissembled, and her hair was all over the place as well. Her eyes were all puffy from all the sleep she had in a while. Her lips were all dry and sour.
Robin and Christina both were surprised, but Christina didn’t show any response to her appearance. She also got up, but with a plain face, showing no emotions at all.
Robin got up from his seat right away. And stood in front of her, not able to get his words out of his mouth, he was silent.
“Lucy, see here. I can explain-“.
“Did I interrupt or something?” Lucy asked.
“No, not at all,” Christina replied, crossing her arms in front of her chest, putting on a smirk.
“What are you here for? To get your husband or something?” she asked, glancing over at Robin.
“No, why would I be here for him? I came for you girl,”
A few moments later,“Ugh, I don’t understand why I decided to accompany them in the first place,” Christina mumbled, as she was walking down the hallways in the big hotel where the after-party was supposed to be held by Lucy’s siblings.“Please burry up a little, the party has already started,” Lucy hurried as she was leading the way. Robin was walking behind them, not able to match up to their pace.“Why are you telling me to hurry when you were the one who took time to get ready in the first place?” Christina frowned.“Uh, women take time to get ready, don’t you know that yourself? You are a girl, aren’t you?” Lucy’s witty remark was sharp like the tip of the blade. Christina was getting angry every single time she made any comments.“You should stop teasing and making fun of me, when it’s me who’s helping you here in the first place, understand that?
“Good evening, brother,” Lucy says, walking past the crowd, towards the direction of her siblings.She smiled seeing Gray, but the reaction of the other was not as she had expected it to be. The smile which was playing on Gray’s face slowly diminished away from seeing her.“Who called her here?” Olivia remarks, raising her voice.“Ooops, Lucy, we forgot to invite you over to the party. Did you come on your own,” Julia comments, bursting out in laughter?All the other people’s attention in the room turns to her all of a sudden.Lucy wasn’t shocked by her sister’s behavior at all. She knew that this is how she was going to react in the first place.“Whether you had invited me over or not. I don’t mind it at all, cause I’m very much happy over the success of my brother Gray. It’s natural for me to come whether you want me to or not,” Lucy replied with a sm
“I would like Mr. Gray Campbell and his siblings who have helped him out and worked together to give us a speech for their success. Everyone a round of applause for them who has presented a wonderful project to our company.” Shouko’s words made everyone’s attention shift to Gray and others.Gray could hardly hide the smile from appearing on his face. He may never have felt so much honored like this.Olivia takes the mic away from Mary’s hand and smiled at the people.“I….I am Olivia, I am not a Campbell and my husband has good business to handle, but I still take care of my grandpa’s and our family business. As the older child, I always try to work hard, and want my siblings to follow the same path and try to inspire them.”“How can you even speak lie with a straight face so easily?” Lucy looked up at her staring with eyes of contempt.“I can’t be like her, ever.”
Julia came forward with a smile and extended her hand towards Christina. “Hi, nice to meet you. I am Julia Campbell, nice to meet you.” She addressed, tucking one strand of hair behind her ears. Christina was puzzled, so she glanced over at Robin’s side. He was about to interrupt but then Julia commented, “Did he warn you to talk to me or something?”. “Huh?”. “Mr. Jobless,” Julia points at Robin. “Who is she? Your new girlfriend or something? Does Lucy know about her? Or are you keeping relations with her behind her back? And to think the nerve that you brought her to our party, that’s kinda sick you know? Where do you get so much courage from anyway?” she comments with a snarl, resting her hand on her waist with a smile brighter than anyone who was hiding an evil face underneath her make-up. “Listen,” Christina interrupted. “He wasn’t-“. Robin pulled her by the hand, stopping her from talking.
“Then what do you have to say about this picture?” Julia remarks. She takes out her phone showed a picture to Lucy. In it, Christina and Robin were hugging each other.Robin recalled the scene right away.“She took the picture? When?”.Lucy went silent as she had no answer to that question of hers. Gray and others were left hanging, and it became a tense atmosphere throughout the party hall.“If she’s only his friend then why were they out hugging each other?”.“It’s common for friends to hug each other, I thought you were aware of that sister,” Lucy stated, walking closer towards Julia.“Your picture proves nothing. Stop accusing my husband of something which he hasn’t done.” Lucy’s eyes were determined even she could find the hollowness in her tone.“But he doesn’t seem as innocent as you make him sound like, is he?” Olivia comments
After the dinner, everyone had gathered around to listen to Shouko's good news. Lucy was the last one to gather. She searched for Robin and Christina but they were at the back. Shouko appeared while being accompanied by Mary.Gray and others were standing beside her, to listen to her as well."Everyone, I have a good news for you and us all. Please listen to me." Mrs. Shouko spoke in a cheerful tone."We are getting a chance to have connection with the global market again, and it's all thanks to someone who's present here. Want to hear the whole news?"."Spill the beans," called a voice among the crowd."Then, hold onto seats. cause it Will be a banger." "The Campbell's have taken the overseas project and another of you shall be getting the new project." Shouko announced. Gray and Olivia’s eyes widened hearing that. Julia glanced back at Hughes, and then to Olivia. “Did you hear what she said?” asked Hughes, staring at Gray. Gray’s
At last, the party was over. Lucy and others were all supposed to return to the hotel.On the way, Lucy joined Robin and Christina for a ride back.They took the same taxi, and Christina was sitting right beside Robin, while Lucy sat across them.It was one tense of an atmosphere. Everyone was silent, none of them were talking to each other. Or, they couldn’t find anything to talk about in the first place.Lucy stared at the window outside, watching people go.Christina leaned onto Robin’s shoulder. The irritation on Lucy’s face was visible to everyone out there.Robin also noticed it but didn’t think about mentioning it.“Why aren’t any of you talking?” Christina asked. She was staring at Lucy from the corner of her eyes.“Why do we have to talk?” he asked back, loosening his tie.“It’s not necessary to communicate right?”.“It is! Lucy
Robin and Christina both were surprised to hear those words out of Lucy’s mouth.“What did you….” Christina was speechless.“I was just joking, nothing else,” Lucy replied with a plain face. “I have no intention of getting into this stupid competition for no reason at all. I have more things to take care of than this.”“You can keep liking him, no one’s stopping you. But don’t get on my nerves, that’s all.”Robin heaved a sigh hearing that. But a slight disappointment was visible to Christina, who was observing his face.“You don’t care about me at all, do you?”.Within half an hour, their ride came to an end and they reached the hotel. All of them were packing up their luggage to prepare for the flight.Robin picked up Lucy’s clothes etc. Lucy came out of the shower to see that most of her work was done.She was surprised. Sh